AUBURN HILLS -- There weren't many caveats or promises of better things to come after Wednesday's 105-94 loss to the Chicago Bulls, just another lesson in fourth-quarter efficacy by a playoff-bound team, and another reminder with 21 games left that the Detroit Pistons may be on the wrong side of that line.

The NBA's worst closers have been outscored by an average of 2.9 points in all fourth quarters this season, and 4.8 points in fourth quarters at The Palace of Auburn Hills, and with the schedule conspiring against them fully now, the weight of Pistons' situation is undeniable.

They picked up poorly timed technical fouls against the Bulls, leading interim coach John Loyer to say, "Our emotions were fine," in the kind of curt response that left listeners trusting eyes instead of ears.

For three quarters, the Pistons were in the game, down 71-70 entering the fourth.

It devolved quickly in a blur of D.J. Augustin ripping off the fourth quarter's first seven points, and Joakim Noah cleaning the glass and facilitating for teammates on a triple-double night, and Mike Dunleavy dropping in floaters, and Kyle Singler inexplicably feeding the Bulls' Jimmy Butler for a breakaway dunk.

The Bulls scored 20 points in the first six minutes of the quarter and pushed the lead to as much as 15, drawing the distinction between themselves and a team consistently unable to elevate its game in fourth quarters.

"I think we do at times," Loyer protested. "When you don't do that against a very quality opponent, you kind of get outcomes like you did tonight.

"But come on, our guys have laid it on the line for three quarters. We played at a very high level. They made some shots in the fourth quarter. We didn't keep them in front of us as good in the fourth quarter. You're going to have situations like that. It's not the end of the world. I know our guys have prepared for what they were going to do, and for three quarters, we did what we're capable of doing. We just didn't have a good fourth quarter."

Will Bynum, who scored 16 fourth-quarter points in the Pistons' win over New York two nights earlier, shot 1 of 11 Wednesday.

The Bulls had a 50-12 bench scoring advantage, with 26 from Augustin and 22 from Taj Gibson. The Pistons' bench points all came from Bynum and Rodney Stuckey.

Andre Drummond, who had a 17-point, 26-rebound game against the Knicks, had a more modest 15-point, seven-rebound outing against the Bulls.

Noah had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and seemed to make every key interior play late in the game.

"They're a great defensive team," Drummond said. "They made it hard for us to get into our stuff. We were going back and forth, and we were down by one after three quarters, and they out-executed us in the fourth quarter."

The Pistons (24-37) only can hope that eighth-place Atlanta continues its free-fall in the race for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot, and even if that happens, Detroit plays seven of its next nine games on the road.

It won't matter where they play until they learn to finish games, as their 14-20 home record proves.

"We win the first and third quarters, we just gave up 34 points in the fourth," Loyer said. "Just not winning basketball."